L&T has emerged as the leading technical bidder for NLC India’s lignite gasification initiative, with ongoing price negotiations, according to M. Prasanna Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, NLC India. The project, valued at ₹4,350 crore, aims to generate syn gas – a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen – and subsequently produce methanol from this syn gas.
NLC India had issued two separate tenders – one for lignite-to-syn gas conversion and another for syn gas-to-methanol conversion. In December, three entities submitted bids for the lignite-to-syn gas component.
Regarding the syn gas-to-methanol conversion, the deadline for tender responses has been extended until the end of March. Air Products of the US serves as the technology partner for the project, while PSU Engineers India Ltd is overseeing project management.
As reported by businessline, upon completion, the project is anticipated to yield 4,00,000 tons of methanol, utilizing 2.5 million tons of lignite, thus mitigating the need for approximately ₹1,000 crore worth of crude imports.
